I was excited to begin EDU 6613 Standards-based Assessment because this is the direction that our school district is going but I began the class with a limited understanding of standards-based assessment and Common Core Standards. Before taking this class, I read Formative Assessment & Standards-Based Grading by Robert J. Marzano as a part of a course offered through my school district to prepare us for this transition.  This book got me interested in this grading system and helped me understand the rational, but I was excited to try it out through this course.  This course focused on Standard 5 Assessment which states, “Assess students’ mastery of curriculum and modifies instruction to maximize learning” (Curriculum and Instruction Program Standards, 2012).  Through this class I was able to learn more about the benefits of this grading system as well as understand how to implement the learning into my classroom. “Grades should be effective communication vehicles, and the method used to determine them need to provide optimum opportunities for student success and to encourage learning” (O”Connor, 2010, p. 47).

This year we have been receiving trainings about the Common Core and Standards-based Assessments and we have been given some time to implement our learning.  The 7th Grade LA team met to create Standards-based assessments based on the Common Core Standards before we began to teach the book Freak the Mighty.  By taking a look at our meeting notes and the unit we created, you can see how we implemented our learning about Common Core Standards and Standards-based Assessments into our classrooms.

This unit will last five weeks and for each chunk of text students will describe the setting, characters, plot, conflict, and make connections.  They will answer a question for each selection based on the learning target.  The learning targets will focus on elements of the story, character relationships, and making connections to oneself and the world.  In addition, they will explore vocabulary needed for this selection.  They will demonstrate their learning through a vocabulary quiz and a Lit Circle in addition to the formative work that they are doing as they read the selection.  These activities will give students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding.  Marzano (2010) says, “In general, student achievement benefits when assessment is given relatively frequently as opposed to infrequently” (Chapter 1, Paragraph 6).  By creating multiple ways for our students to demonstrate their understanding throughout the unit, we are setting our students up to succeed and walk away with a greater understanding because they are able to receive frequent feedback.

Through this class, I learned a lot about learning targets, formative assessments, and Standards-based grading.  I believe that that clear learning targets help students understand where they are going and why they are headed there.  Chappuis, Stiggins, Chappuis, and Arter (2012) compare learning targets to a GPS system.  “Just as the GPS we use in our cars relies on an accurate map to accomplish its task, effective formative and summative assessment depends on the clear roadmap to important learning that a good curriculum provides” (p. 42).  I heard this described last year in a course called “Checking for Understanding” that I took through my school district on formative assessment. I applied this by creating Learning Target Roadmaps for my students so that they can see where were are and where we are headed.  Throughout this journey, I check for understanding so I know what I need to reteach and when I can move on.  A big move that we are making next year as we move to standards-based assessments is having a rubric or a criteria to justify the grade that we give to our students.  The second guideline that O’Connor gives in his book How to Grade for Learning is “Use criterion-referenced performance standards as a reference point to determine grades” (O’Connor, 2009, p.63).  This is important because it ensures equity for all students and when used by all teachers, it ensures that students in all classes are being assessed the same. I believe that this is very compelling.  Next year, we will be using the Angoff method to assign find our students’ scores.  We used this method to create a criteria to grade the work that we did on our Freak the Mighty unit.  “There is no single right way to do it; however, whatever is done needs to reflect evidence of students’ level of mastery of the target of instruction” (O’Connor, 2009, p. 170). This class helped me prepare for the changes that will be happening next year and helped me understand the rationale for these new practices before they are implemented into my school.

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